BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Location Confirmed and Rendering Released for the Helena Montana Temple

Hello again, everyone! When 20 new temples were announced in General Conference a couple of weeks ago, I had personally theorized that most of those would be smaller temples, for which approvals could move quickly and official information might come down the pike more quickly than their recently-announced counterparts. But even in view of that statement, I couldn't imagine how quickly that would start occurring.

The site location has been confimed and the rendering released for the Helena Montana Temple. The single-story temple will be approximately 10,000 square feet in area, with single central spire. The chosen site is located at 1260 Otter Road in Helena, and the temple will be built on 4.8 acres of land. Project leaders have begun working with city leaders through the approvals process. A groundbreaking date will be set once the appropriate approvals are granted.

Given the quick turnaround for this temple, I'd anticipate a groundbreaking in mid-2021 or mid-to-late 2021 at latest. And if the other 19 temples are similarly-sized, official information could be released for quite a few of those in the future as well. I'd also anticipate work will continue to be done to clear temples that have been in the queue for a while. This is a tremendous development, and I'm grateful to have been able to learn about it and pass it along to you all here.

I continue to monitor all temple developments and Church news updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of it.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

POTENTIAL BREAKING NEWS: Preliminary Information Unofficially Revealed About the Russia Temple?

Hello again, everyone! In several previous posts (and various comment threads thereof this year and last year), I had mentioned several temples on which I was keeping my eyes for more offical information. For most of those temples, I listed them by their specific names. But I also mentioned that at least one of the temples for which extensive delays in the approvals process were anticipated was on my watchlist for more information in the near term. I didn't identify that temple by name at any point in recent mentions because I didn't have anything official to pass along about that

Fast forward to a short time ago. I have periodically checked the Church's official temple list for any information that has not otherwise been officially confirmed, and I felt impressed to check that again within the last half-hour. I pulled up the list of 48 announced temples. At my last check, that list had not included the 20 new temples announced by President Nelson almost two weeks ago. But when I checked it today, not only were all 48 announced temples listed, but where it had previously listed the Russia Temple, there is now text that reads "Russia Administration Building".

The text for that entry on the list of temples potentially gives us more details on the temple planned for Russia than we've had since that prospect was first announced in General Conference 3 years or so ago. And it suggests to me that perhaps the Church will be successful in getting approval for a Russian mulltipurpose building that includes the temple perhaps more swiftly that would be true if the temple was the only thing planned.

And with the headquarters of the Europe East Area being Moscow Russia, I could see a scenario where the Church takes a similar approach to doing in Russia what has been done previously in Tokyo Japan and what is being planned for Shanghai China, where a multipurpose building would serve as a home base for the area and mission offices, for meetinghouse spaces, and for rooms that could be used for temple worship.

I need to be very clear here that this is no more and no less than a hypothetical theory on my part based on what I'm seeing on the page where the announced temples are listed. It could just as easily be true that the name or specification here is a placeholder, and/or that there will be more work ahead for the Church to do in order to get the temple (and anything else in Russia) approved. When official information is released, that will be the confirmation of the details which are currently lacking.

If nothing else, at least it's a working theory based on what I am seeing on that list, and what I have heard from a couple of sources on my end. I will be most intrigued to see what happens in terms of temple developments in the days, weeks, and months ahead, even if the theory I have posited here turns out to be misguided or ill-conceived on my part. Stay tuned for more informaiton on this (and any other Church news or temple developments) as I become aware of those.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Set for Tallahasse Florida Temple

 Hello again, everyone! Within the last half hour, breaking temple news has been reported. I have previously mentioned that the smaller US temples generally get more swift approval than their international counterparts. The breaking news relates to one of those small temples. Groundbreaking arrangements have been announced for the Tallahassee Florida Temple. The groundbreaking is set to take place in June. As hax been the case with all groundbreakings held during the COVID-19 pandemic, only a general window has been set for the groundbreaking.

That event will occur sometime in June. I believe this marks the first time since the Hinckley-era smaller temples were bu8ilt that more than one temple groundbreaking occcurred in June. Elder James B. Martino, the President of the North America Southeast Area, will preside at that groundbreaking, with COVID-19 protocols leading to a limited in-person attendance. It will be interesting to see when exactly in June that groundbreaking occurs, since the Syracuse Utah Temple groundbreaking is also set to occcur that month.

Based on the temple's previously-announced location, size, and rendering, I imagine that, at most, the temple will take roughly 2-2.5 years to complete. Coverage on this morning's announcement was also shared in the Church News. Full disclosure here: I honestly wasn't expecting the announcement on the Tallahassee Florida Temple to be the next announced groundbreaking. 

Based on the information I had as recently as last night, I was anticipating the next groundbreakings announced would be, in any order, for the Lindon Utah and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temples, along with potentia announcemnts for the Pago Pago American Samoa and Neiafu Tonga Temples, before Tallahassee would even be on the horizon.

That being said, I am grateful the Lord continues to prove that His ways and thoughts are higher than mine. And the previous opinons I offered were always subect to official confirmation, clarification, or correction by the Brethren when official announcements come down the pike. With all of that being said, I'm grateful to have learned of this news and to be able to pass it along to you all here.

I continue to monitor all other Church news and temple updates, and will bring you all word of those as I become aware thereof. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.